Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attends a ceremony to present the Irkut MC-21 mid-range jet airliner at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (Irkut Corporation) in Irkutsk, June 8, 2016. Sputnik/Alexander Astafyev/Pool/via Russia on Wednesday presented a new medium-range passenger plane which state media said was superior to its Western-made counterparts in many respects and would be snapped up by both Russian and foreign carriers. In a glitzy ceremony at a factory in Siberia attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Irkut Corporation ( IRKT.MM ) rolled out its new MC-21 passenger plane which is still undergoing testing but is due to enter serial production next year. The plane is sometimes also known as MS-21. Medvedev hailed the new twin-engine short and medium-range aircraft as “cool,” saying it was important that Russia remained in what he called the top league of aircraft makers despite the high costs involved. Squeezed by Western sanctions […]